Supporting Foster Families: How a Local NonProfit is Working to Make a Difference

The Oregon Department of Human Services adds Every Child helps them across the board when it comes to helping foster kids, but says it also supports DHS staff.

Posted: Mar. 7, 2019 6:32 PM

Posted By: Rachel Tiede

EAGLE POINT, Ore. -- More than 11,000 kids are in foster care in Oregon. About 500 kids are in the system in Jackson County.

Lynette Hasse is the director of Every Child of Jackson County. She was a foster mom herself before she adopted one of the kids in her care. The Hasse family adopted Brendan when he was three. He's now a freshman at Eagle Point High School.

"We took a baby at four and a half months old and that parent did not choose to get her son back," Lynette said. "There was no family that stepped up and we fell in love with him."

Through that foster and adoption process, Lynette saw there was a need for a support system for foster families. She and Every Child created The Neighborhood Initiative. It creates a group of people that surround a foster family and showers them with support, like making hot meals, helping with laundry, and offer emotional support.

"My husband and I really felt like the neighborhood was a great way to start and a great way to engage in our community to do just what we would've loved to have ourselves," Lynette said.

The Oregon Department of Human Services adds Every Child helps them across the board when it comes to helping foster kids, but says it also supports DHS staff.

"Every Child makes a concerted effort regularly to remind staff they're important and they matter," Gabe Dawson, the program manager, said.